"The operations will be handed over to the consortium from tonight. Some of the existing employees of the airport will be working with us," the official told PTI.
The USD 700 million-project to develop and operate the Mactan-Cebu International Airport in the Philippines was awarded by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) of Philippines.
Megawide is a Philippines-based construction company.
As part of the agreement, the consortium will have to develop a new terminal within three years from the taking over operations of the airports, the official said, adding that the construction of new passenger terminal would involve an investment outlay of nearly USD 380 million.
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The existing terminal was designed to handle approximately 4.5 million passengers, but it currently handles roughly 7.1 million. The expansion of the terminal is expected to raise the annual passenger capacity of the airport to 12.5 million.
The concession agreement involves upfront payment premium of 14.4 billion Peso (over USD 320 million) and the concessionaire has already paid, the GMR official said.
Earlier, a DOTC spokesperson in a release had said that the 25-year concession was awarded to GMR-Megawide following several months of reviewing various legal questions raised by a bidder in connection with the Airport project.
With regard to the user development fee at the airport, the official said all those amounts are pre-determined by the airport authority and the consortium has no role in it.
GMR Chairman G M Rao and other senior executives of the Group recently met Philippines President Benigno S Aquino III in Manila.